Saturday, June 14, 2008

I must have read Billy Bunny to baby Julian at least one hundred times over the years and each time we flipped the last page to reveal a pretty meadow a-buzzing with busy bees, Julian would point them out while I buzzed and tickled his neck or tummy to his giggling delight. It wasn't long before the bee tickle became our thing anytime we saw a picture of a bee...anywhere! And since almost every children's book or puzzle has at least one bee in it, I've been buzzing for a long long time!

It was only a matter of time really before our bee thing would start affecting my knitting. And now it has! Meet Buzzy and Buzza. Our new knitted bee noise-makers. I used Little Cotton Rabbit's Easter egg pattern to make these and simply knit the "egg" in alternating 4-row stripes of brown and yellow for the bee body.

For the wings, I simply cast on 20 stitches, worked 6 rows in stockinette, cut the yarn and pulled it through all 20 stitches (2x). I then used the tails to seam the sides and sew the wings to the bee. For the antennae, I knit 3 stitch i-cords for about an inch, tied knots in one end and sewed them to the bee. Ta-da!

I filled plastic easter eggs with rice and then seamed the bee around them to make salsa style noisemakers just like the plain ones we use in music class. Note to the wise: one of the bees is already busted -- and I didn't catch the offender so I don't know how it happened -- so if you make one, I suggest you seriously tape or glue the egg halves closed before dressing them in their bee costumes, just in case ;0)

And now for something completely different: it was our daddy's birthday this week! The big 3-0! So the kids and I went on a secret mission to the grocery store where Julian got the run of the store picking out decorations for daddy's cake. It was all about animal crackers, mini marshmallows, m&m's, licorice, and 4 kinds of jimmies and Sunday sprinkles! He had such fun decorating it and we really enjoyed eating the mountain of cake and candy he created.

12 comments:

Oh those bees are so cute. What with Susan's bee hat and a pattern in my knitting mag for bee booties, your little guys would make a perfect addition to a baby gift. Now I just need someone to knit them all for!Happy birthday to your hubby, looks like you all had a great time.

My oldest daughter was peeking over my shoulder as I read and loudly proclaimed, "I want bumby-bees...peas..." How can I refuse with a plea like that? Adorable pattern, happy family, sweet children...what a lovely life!